Today is Tuesday, Jan. 4, the fourth day of 2005. There are 361 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight in history:
On Jan. 4, 1965, President Johnson outlined the goals of his “Great Society” in his State of the Union Address.
On this date:
In 1821, the first native-born American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, died in Emmitsburg, Md.
In 1896, Utah was admitted as the 45th state.
In 1904, the Supreme Court ruled that Puerto Ricans were not aliens and could enter the United States freely; however, the court stopped short of declaring them U.S. citizens.
In 1948, Britain granted independence to Burma.
In 1951, during the Korean conflict, North Korean and Communist Chinese forces captured the city of Seoul.
In 1960, French author Albert Camus died in an automobile accident at age 46.
In 1965, poet T.S. Eliot died in London at age 76.
In 1974, President Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
In 1987, 16 people were killed when an Amtrak train bound from Washington to Boston collided with Conrail engines approaching from a side track in Chase, Md.
In 1990, Charles Stuart, who’d claimed to have been wounded and his wife shot dead by a robber, leapt to his death off a Boston Harbor bridge after he himself became a suspect.
Ten years ago: The 104th Congress convened, the first entirely under Republican control since the Eisenhower era; Newt Gingrich was elected Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Five years ago: Former presidential rival Elizabeth Dole endorsed fellow Republican George W. Bush. Israel and the Palestinians reached agreement on an Israeli troop pullback from 5 percent of the West Bank.
One year ago: In Iowa, seven of the nine Democratic presidential hopefuls participated in a feisty, first debate of the election year. Afghans approved a new constitution. Georgians overwhelmingly elected Mikhail Saakashvili president, two months after he’d led protests that forced Eduard Shevardnadze to step down. Louisiana State University won college football’s Sugar Bowl, defeating Oklahoma 21-14.
Today’s birthdays: Actress Jane Wyman is 91. Actress Barbara Rush is 78. Football Hall-of-Fame coach Don Shula is 75. Former heavyweight boxing champion Floyd Patterson is 70. Actress Dyan Cannon is 68. Opera singer Grace Bumbry is 68. Country singer Kathy Forester (The Forester Sisters) is 50. Actress Ann Magnuson is 49. Rock musician Bernard Sumner (New Order, Joy Division) is 49. Country singer Patty Loveless is 48. Rock singer Michael Stipe (R.E.M.) is 45. Actor Patrick Cassidy is 43. Actor Dave Foley is 42. Actress Julia Ormond is 40. Tennis player Guy Forget is 40. Country singer Deana Carter is 39. Rock musician Benjamin Darvill (Crash Test Dummies) is 38. Actor Jeremy Licht is 34. Actress-singer Jill Jones is 30.
Thought for today: “Sometimes history takes things into its own hands.” — Thurgood Marshall, U.S. Supreme Court justice (1908-1993).